1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the apparatus and the method of using that apparatus for the treatment of Barrett's Esophagus, and more particularly the utilization of a light apparatus to accomplish that treatment.
2. Prior Art
A condition known as Barrett's Esophagus, develops in some people who have chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or otherwise known as inflammation of the esophagus (esophagitis).
The esophagus is a muscular, membranous tube, about 25 cm long, through which food passes from the pharynx at the rear of the mouth, into the stomach.
The inner mucosa of the esophagus is lined with nonkeratinized stratified squamous epithelium arranged in longitudinal folds. A number of mucous glands in the mucosa and submucosa provide a film of lubricating mucus to ease the passage of food to the stomach. The submucosa also contains blood vessels. The middle muscular's externa consists wholly of striated voluntary muscle in the upper third of the esophagus, a combination of smooth and striated muscle in the middle third, and wholly smooth muscle in the lower third. The slow contractions of the smooth muscle in this area allow food to pass into the stomach without the force generated by the skeletal muscle. The outer fibrous layer is called the adventitia, because it lacks an epithelial layer.
The esophagus is located just in front of the vertebral column and behind the trachea. It passes through the lower neck and thorax before penetrating the diaphragm and joining the stomach.
Each end of the esophagus is closed by a sphincter muscle when the tube is at rest and collapsed. The upper sphincter is the superior esophageal sphincter. Closing of this sphincter is caused not by active muscular contraction but rather by the passive elastic tension in the wall of the esophagus when the esophageal muscles are relaxed. The lower esophageal sphincter is a band of smooth muscle that includes the last 4 cm of the esophagus just before it connects to the stomach. The lower sphincter relaxes only long enough to allow food and liquids to pass into the stomach. The rest of the time, it is in a contracted configuration to prevent food and hydrochloric acid from being forced back into the esophagus when pressure increases in the abdomen. Such pressure usually increases when the abdominal muscles contract during the breathing cycle, during the late stages of pregnancy, and during the normal stomach contractions during digestion. If the lower esophageal sphincter does not close, the hydrochloric acid in the stomach may be forced up into the lower esophagus. The resultant irritation of the lining of the esophagus is known as heartburn, called this because it is a painful sensation and appears to be located near the heart. Damage to the lining of the esophagus caused by that hydrochloric acid known as acid reflux, and abbreviated “GERD”, that causes the normal cells that line the esophagus, those cells being called the squamous cells, to turn into a type of cell not usually found in humans, called specialized columnar cells. That conversion of cells in the esophagus by the acid reflux, is known as Barrett's Esophagus. Symptoms of such a condition may include waking during the night because of a heartburn pain, vomiting, blood in the vomit or stool, and in difficulty with swallowing.
The diagnosis of such a condition involves the use of an endoscope inserted down the esophagus to as to evaluate the lining thereof, and to permit a biopsy to be taken of the tissue therein. This treatment is called an endoscopy, wherein the doctor thus guides the thin endoscopic tube through the mouth and into the esophagus. The scope may contain instruments that permit the doctor to see the lining of the esophagus and to remove a small sample of tissue from the esophagus lining. That tissue sample, called a biopsy, would be examined to see whether the normal squamous cells have been replaced with the columnar cells.
Cells in the lining of the esophagus, after having turned into columnar cells, will not revert back to normal squamous cells. There is, unfortunately, no cure presently for Barrett's Esophagus. Present treatment of this disease is effected to attempt to prevent further damage by stopping any additional acid reflux from the stomach. Some types of medications may be helpful, such as H2 receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors, which reduce the amount of acid produced by the stomach. There is a risk of developing cancer by about 5 to 10 percent of the people who have Barrett's Esophagus.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a treatment for patients who have Barrett's Esophagus disease.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an arrangement to reverse abnormal columnar epithelial cells and secretory lining in the esophagus, to become the normal “whitish” squamous type of cell through precise modification of the lesion's vasculature.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an optical radiation source which takes advantage of the optical differentiation of abnormal and normal tissue lining the esophagus to provide a treatment for that abnormal cellular condition.